[Event "World Rapid Women 2019"] [Site "Moscow RUS"] [Date "2019.12.27"] [Round "6.2"] [White "Bulmaga, Irina"] [Black "Koneru, Humpy"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C21"] [WhiteElo "2434"] [BlackElo "2574"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [PlyCount "67"] [EventDate "2019.12.26"] [EventType "rapid"] {[%evp 0,67,28,37,10,17,21,-4,4,9,23,23,57,4,30,-5,55,38,18,20,50,158,132,127, 124,130,398,396,426,426,446,487,494,494,594,636,760,461,502,345,509,344,328, 316,316,316,356,429,481,315,462,313,442,461,1657,2085,2304,729,730,522,606,568, 647,645,667,627,658,573,609,595]} 1. e4 e5 2. d4 {(?!)} exd4 3. Nf3 {This move order is presumably intended to avoid the Petroff, which Koneru often plays.} Bb4+ (3... Bc5 {is another way of avoiding transposition to a Scotch - Black will delay ...Nc6.}) 4. c3 dxc3 5. Nxc3 Ne7 {An attempt to play it safe, but sometimes such overt attempts at solidity give the opponent too much of a free hand. I believe that's the case here.} (5... Nf6) (5... d6) 6. Bc4 (6. Qd4) 6... O-O 7. O-O c6 (7... Bxc3) (7... h6) 8. Bg5 (8. Ng5) 8... h6 9. Bh4 Qa5 {This attempt to put ...c6 to a second use (the first was stopping Nd5) fails disastrously. This kind of mistake occasionally happens when the player facing a gambit vacillates between active and passive play. The opponent is busy putting his (or in this case, her) pieces on nice squares, while the diner (the player "eating" the gambitted material) fails to come up with a coherent approach, and makes a big mistake in an unfamiliar situation. The mistake is made possible by the lack of coordination of Black's pieces, and *that* in turn happens when one is in an unfamiliar position. We underestimate how tied to patterns we are. (This, by the way, is why lower-rated players shouldn't try spontaneous opening experiments against higher-rated players.)} 10. a3 Bxc3 11. Bxe7 Re8 12. Bd6 {Black is still a pawn up - and can make it two pawns - but she is completely lost. There are two key factors. First, the f7 pawn, which White will pursue with Qb3 if given the chance. Second, Black is playing without three of her pieces - the slackers on a8, b8, and c8. She is completely lost here.} Rxe4 {Intending to sac the exchange in case of 13.Qb3, though there too White would win easily.} ( 12... Bxb2 13. Qb3 Bxa1 14. Bxf7+ Kh8 15. Bxe8 Qd8 16. Bf7 Bf6 17. e5 Be7 18. g3 {Securing h4 for the knight. White will soon be attacking with all her pieces, while Black will have only her queen (and the g- and h-pawns) to defend the king. It's not nearly enough.}) (12... b5 13. Ba2 Bxb2 14. Qb3 Re6 15. Bb4 Qd8 16. Qxb2) 13. bxc3 Rxc4 14. Qe2 {Threatening not only the rook but Qe8+ followed by Qxc8. Black could have resigned here without FOMO, but who wants to give up after just 14 moves? She plays on, but the result is never in doubt.} Qa6 15. Qe8+ Kh7 16. Qxc8 b5 17. Qf8 c5 18. Ne5 Rf4 19. Bxb8 Qb7 20. Qxc5 Rxb8 21. Rad1 Rc8 22. Qe7 Rxc3 23. Nxd7 Rc7 24. Nf8+ Kg8 25. Qe8 Rc8 26. Rd8 Re4 27. Ne6+ Kh7 28. Rxc8 Rxe6 29. Qd8 a5 30. Rc7 Qe4 31. Rxf7 b4 32. axb4 axb4 33. Rf3 Rg6 34. Qd3 {If Black tries to avoid the queen swap, Rg3 will force the trade of queens *and* the rooks as well.} 1-0 [Event "World Rapid 2019"] [Site "Moscow RUS"] [Date "2019.12.27"] [Round "10.1"] [White "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Black "Le, Quang Liem"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D20"] [WhiteElo "2872"] [BlackElo "2713"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [PlyCount "63"] [EventDate "2019.12.26"] [EventType "rapid"] {[%evp 0,63,37,40,32,-14,33,20,15,36,13,20,17,15,9,13,15,22,7,8,8,9,9,22,24,31, 77,77,75,71,79,71,85,75,94,70,92,74,81,67,95,69,81,81,102,109,136,139,114,149, 139,137,168,159,238,340,390,362,362,362,737,774,932,1223,1078,1330]} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e4 {Possibly a surprise for Le, as Carlsen had played 3.e3 in his previous (and only relatively recent?) White QGA game.} (3. e3 Nf6 4. Bxc4 e6 5. Nf3 c5 6. O-O a6 7. Be2 Nbd7 8. Nc3 b6 9. e4 cxd4 10. Nxd4 Bb7 11. Be3 Bc5 12. f3 O-O 13. Qe1 Rc8 14. Qf2 b5 15. Rac1 Qe7 16. a4 bxa4 17. Nxa4 Bd6 18. Nb3 Bc6 19. Nc3 Rb8 20. Na5 Ba8 21. Nc4 Bc5 22. Rfd1 Rfc8 23. Na4 Bxe3 24. Qxe3 Qb4 25. Qa3 h6 26. Kf1 g5 27. Rc3 a5 28. Qxb4 axb4 29. Rcc1 Kf8 30. Na5 Ke7 31. Kf2 Rxc1 32. Rxc1 Ne8 33. Ke3 Nd6 34. Nc5 Rc8 35. Nab3 f5 36. Nxd7 Rxc1 37. Nxc1 Kxd7 38. Nd3 fxe4 39. fxe4 Ke7 40. e5 Nf5+ 41. Kf2 Nd4 42. Bd1 b3 43. Nb4 Bd5 44. g3 Bc4 45. Ke3 Nf5+ 46. Ke4 Kd7 47. g4 Ne7 48. Kd4 Bf1 49. Bxb3 Be2 50. h3 Bf1 51. Nd3 Nc6+ 52. Kc5 Bxd3 53. Ba4 Be4 54. Kb6 Bd5 {1/2-1/2 (54) Carlsen, M (2837)-Caruana,F (2799) London 2017}) 3... Nf6 4. e5 Nd5 5. Bxc4 Nb6 (5... Bf5 {was Le's choice several months ago, in the World Cup.} 6. Ne2 e6 7. O-O Nb6 8. Bb3 Nc6 9. Nbc3 Qd7 10. Be3 O-O-O 11. Rc1 Kb8 12. Na4 f6 13. Nc5 Bxc5 14. dxc5 Nd5 15. exf6 gxf6 16. Ba4 Qg7 17. Qb3 Na5 18. Qa3 Nxe3 19. Qxe3 Rd3 20. Qf4 Rhd8 21. Rfe1 Bh3 22. Ng3 R8d4 23. Re4 e5 24. Qh4 Rxe4 25. Qxe4 Rd4 26. Qc2 Bc8 27. Bb5 a6 28. Bd3 Qg5 29. Re1 h5 30. a3 h4 31. Ne4 Qg6 32. f3 Nc6 33. Nf2 f5 34. Qc3 Rd8 35. b4 Nd4 36. Bf1 Qg7 37. Kh1 Bd7 38. Nd3 Bb5 39. a4 Bxd3 40. Qxd3 Qf6 41. Qe3 e4 42. Qf2 exf3 43. gxf3 a5 44. bxa5 Qc6 45. Rd1 Qxc5 46. a6 Rd6 47. axb7 Kxb7 48. f4 Ka7 49. h3 Ne6 50. Qxc5+ Nxc5 51. Rc1 Ne4 52. Kg1 Kb6 53. Rb1+ Ka5 54. Bb5 c6 55. Be2 Kxa4 56. Rb8 Rd4 57. Kg2 Ng3 58. Bf3 c5 59. Kf2 Rxf4 60. Ke3 Rd4 61. Bc6+ Ka3 62. Rb5 f4+ 63. Kf3 c4 64. Ra5+ Kb2 65. Rb5+ Kc2 66. Rb4 Kc3 67. Rb8 Nf5 68. Be4 Nd6 69. Bg6 Kd2 70. Rb2+ Kc3 71. Rb8 Kd2 72. Rb2+ Kc3 73. Rb8 Kd2 {1/2-1/2 (73) Aleksandrov,A (2577)-Le,Q (2708) Khanty-Mansiysk 2019}) 6. Bb3 (6. Bd3 {is the other main line.}) 6... Bf5 (6... Nc6 {is more common, when a transposition is possible but not guaranteed.} 7. Nf3 (7. Be3 Bf5 8. Nc3 (8. Ne2 {is more usual.}) 8... e6 9. Nf3 {transposes to the game.}) 7... Bg4 (7... Bf5 8. Nc3 e6 {is another way to transpose to the game.}) 8. Ng5 {is the way to play against your best friend.} (8. Bxf7+ Kxf7 9. Ng5+ Ke8 10. Qxg4 Qxd4 {is murky, but what to do if you're angry at your best friend. Stockfish thinks highly of White's chances after} 11. Ne4 {, but one must dig deeper to see if the superficial evaluation holds up.}) 8... Bxd1 9. Bxf7+ Kd7 10. Be6+ Ke8 11. Bf7+) 7. Nf3 (7. Nc3 e6 8. Nge2 {is more usual.} ) 7... e6 8. Nc3 Nc6 9. Be3 ({And here} 9. O-O {is arguably the better choice, waiting to develop the bishop.}) 9... Be7 (9... Nb4 {should be played here, while it's still possible to land the knight on d5.}) 10. O-O (10. a3 { For the reason given in the last note.}) 10... O-O (10... Nb4 {Ditto.}) 11. a3 {Finally getting it right. Now Black is worse, and in an unpleasant situation.} Na5 12. Bc2 Qd7 (12... Bxc2 {was a better choice, and after} 13. Qxc2 Nac4 {followed by ...h6 Black can avoid or at least delay a direct attack involving White knights landing on g5. Still, after} 14. Bc1 h6 15. Re1 { /+/- followed by Re4-g4 (and sooner or later, b3), Black's position is pretty lousy.}) 13. Bxf5 exf5 14. d5 {Black's position at the end of the line given in the last note wasn't very good, but this is simply terrible. White's pawns dominate the board, and Carlsen is able to convert the extra space they provide into a powerful attack.} Nac4 15. Bxb6 Nxb6 16. Qb3 Rad8 17. Rad1 Rfe8 18. Rfe1 g6 {White's position is beautiful, and thanks to Black's last move a strong new plan practically suggests itself.} 19. h4 Kg7 20. h5 Bc5 21. Qc2 a5 22. Qc1 (22. Ne2 {was a good alternative. The knight goes to f4, supporting e5-e6, and because of the discovered attack on the bishop White needn't worry about ...Nxd5.}) 22... Qe7 23. Qf4 Nd7 24. b4 axb4 25. axb4 Bb6 ( 25... Bxb4 26. d6 {wins the bishop.}) 26. h6+ Kg8 27. d6 Qf8 28. e6 {What's even prettier than the pawns on d5 and e5? Pawns on d5 and e6! Black probably would have resigned here, were the position not so photogenic.} fxe6 29. dxc7 Rc8 30. Rxd7 Re7 31. Rxe7 Qxe7 32. Nd5 {Down a piece for nothing, Le surely didn't fancy his chances against Carlsen. And now, it's going to be two pieces. } 1-0